Tesla of Trucks?

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Is this truck going to become the Tesla of Trucks? The Nikola One is to be launched in the US, on December 2, according to the designers. There will be a truck on the road sometime in 2019, reckons Nikola founder, TrevorMilton.

Named for the famous electrical engineer Nikola Tesla, whose name is used by the electric car maker, Tesla, the truck is set to develop 2000 hp. The robotic narrator in this video does little to elaborate on exactly how the truck will work.

Basic power comes from a natural gas engine, coupled to a generator. This electrical power is then sent to six electric motors, one at each wheel. The truck will run at 38 tonnes and is claimed to be able to travel 1200 miles (1930 km) between fuel stops. Nikola is working with Meritor which is co-designing an independent suspension system.

Claiming the truck will be 15 years ahead of the competition, the company is crowd funding the development of the technology. It claims to have received 7,000 deposits of $1,500 for the hybrid truck and estimates $2.3 billion in pre-orders.

If the deposit figure is true, this equated to $10.5 million, short of the figure experts would expect to spend to develop such a new technology. Undeterred, the company’s founder continues to talk big about further funding in the pipeline. He is even quoted as saying, Nikola will overtake Daimler, Volvo and Paccar in sales within two years of delivery of the first road-worthy vehicle in 2019. A big call indeed!

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